What Will This Lent Mean To You?

Is it really about chocolate, fish, Ash Wednesday or the Stations of the Cross?

Another Lent is upon us! Will it really be just another Lent culminating with another Easter Sunday?

Perhaps this Lenten experience will be different. Perhaps it will be a time, a journey to discover the meaning of Christ’s crucifixion, death, and resurrection. Could it be possible that this Lent will help each of us discover joy even when things do not turn out the way we wanted? Is it possible that happiness is based on the material things we have accumulated in this world while joy is a state of being, finding good even when there are bumps in road that cause us pain?

Lent, from a faith perspective, is a time to separate from material dependency to make room to discover how to live with a fullness of joy no matter what challenges we encounter. The cross of Christ is a reminder that each of us has a cross. We all succumb to human frailties big or small that are part of our life no matter what we do to avoid them: a diagnosis that we don’t want to hear, a relationship that ends without notice, a job that is not satisfying.

The point of Christ’s passion and death is not in the suffering resulting from the grotesqueness of the Roman Crucifixion as portrayed in the movie “The Passion of the Christ”.  Is Christ’s passion really about the horrific scourging, crowning of thorns, nailing to the cross, mocking, and finally death? Or is it about the mission that brought Jesus to surrender to crucifixion? The mission is the all-important point of the journey in Lent. It is the purpose that gave the Lord the spirit to sacrifice himself for each on of us. His purpose was to save us from our sins and to unite us to God the Father. An amazing thing it is to be saved by one who created us; who loves us so much that he is willing to die to make it happen.

This Lent we are called to think beyond our crosses. We are called to think of the purpose of our lives, the mission that makes whatever cross we bare meaningful.

The human condition is prone to try to get rid of any cross even the most minor ones, rather that accept them as part of life and offer them up for our own journey to salvation. A friend who was terminally ill, reminded me that it is not how we live but how we die that will be our legacy. Just think of the Saints who have been role models of accepting things that cannot be changed.  

This Lent join us in reading Fr. Ron Rolheiser’s book, The Passion and the Cross.” It is an amazing opportunity to experience this Lent as a time to understand the value of accepting things in life from a positive perspective.  

Many will be reading this insightful book in small groups. This is a chance to get to know yourself and your life’s purpose at a deeper level by coming to really encounter Christ in your daily life.

We will all stumble and fall but it is how we get up again and again that makes the difference. Just like Peter in the courtyard who denied our Lord three times before the cock crowed. He got up, asked for forgiveness, and reunited himself with the all-loving Lord.

If you would like to know more about joining a small group discussion about the meaning of “The Passion and The Cross” call the parish office 612-379-3107 or e-mail [email protected].

What will this Lent mean to you?